


H&M

by emmanickel



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Friends to Lovers, Light Angst, M/M, Niall and Shawn are friends from Uni that own a shop together, No Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-08
Updated: 2016-12-08
Packaged: 2018-09-07 05:54:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8785684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emmanickel/pseuds/emmanickel
Summary: Niall and Shawn are co-owners of a fancy Men's clothing store in London called H&M (Horan & Mendes). They've been friends since Uni but someone might be feeling something a little deeper.





	

Niall followed Shawn into their office. It was a cozy space with light wooden flooring and a brown leather couch on the wall facing the door that had a deep green throw blanket tossed over its left arm. Niall’s desk was to the left, while Shawn’s was on the right. They might have similar decor tastes but their desk organization habits weren’t as in tune with each other. Where Niall’s desk lacked a single speck of dust, all of his mail was stacked in his mail tray, his calendar in the middle of the desk having each day up until then slashed through with a brown pen, Shawn’s was the opposite. Covered in old water bottles, a dusty keyboard, and half opened files, Shawn’s desk was where their store’s data went to die. Well, not die exactly, but definitely to be stained by sauces from the previous day’s lunch. 

 

Shawn stalked over to his desk in the way that Niall was far too familiar with- it was his “the rent is due but we’re in the red this month and we might not make it another” walk. Niall and Shawn owned a shop together in central London. H&M, they called it. They hit it off immediately when they had been placed in the same accommodations in Uni- so well that they realized they had the same dream. They both had grown up wanting to own a men’s clothing store in a big city. They wanted to be successful, but not so much that they were tasked with managing a million dollar corporation. Niall was also quick to find out that they had the same taste in clothes and the kind of shop they wanted to have. So he posed the next logical question while they had been at the pub one Friday night. 

 

“Do ya wanna go in together?”

 

Shawn looked over at Niall like he just spoke to him in mandarin. “What was that, mate?”

 

“I mean…. We both want to have a shop. We both want it to be a modern place in a busy area. I think you’re a pretty smart lad and you’re my best mate. So what do you say? You wanna go in with me?”

 

Shawn looked at Niall with wide eyes and tight lips, baffled for a moment. He turned his gaze down to his Guinness and his expression turned thoughtful. Niall watched Shawn think for a few seconds and then, assuming that Shawn didn’t actually want to be business partners with him, stood up to go to toilet. Shawn must have thought that Niall isn’t responsible enough, or maybe that Shawn didn’t actually like Niall, and that's why he was trying to think of a way to say no. Which would hurt more than Niall wanted to admit because he had started thinking more about Shawn than was normal for two mates in Uni. 

 

As Niall stood up to go sulk in the toilets, Shawn shot his hand out to grasp the back of Niall’s shirt. 

 

“We could call it M&H. Mendes and Horan.”

 

Niall looked back at Shawn and saw the excitement on his face, forcing the dread in Niall’s stomach to evaporate. 

 

“Mate, if we’re doing that then Horan has to come before Mendes. H comes before M in the alphabet. And H&M sounds better. ”

 

Six hours that night were spent planning what would be H&M. They ended up dropping out of Uni to start their business early because Shawn had a connection and could get the perfect space for them in a great business location in the middle of London. It had been exactly what they’d dreamed of that night in the pub so they took the leap. At first, H&M was more successful than they’d expected a shop started by two idiot boys could have been. They exceeded their own expectations. It was the nicest feeling either of them had ever felt. . 

 

But as Shawn picked up an uncharacteristically neat looking envelope than would normally come from his desk, Niall didn’t have that feeling of success. He didn’t feel like he’d found some new drug and would be high for months, like he had when they left their first positive meeting with their accountant five years ago. He sat down on his side of the sofa, the left, as Shawn handed him the crisp letter. Shawn retreated back to lean on his desk as he watched Niall scan the sending address. 

 

“This is from Matty.”

 

Matty was their landlord. They had never received a written letter from him before, only quickly written emails and scolding phone calls when their rent was late. The calls have been getting more and more threatening with each passing month, when they’ve only been able to pay ⅕ of their actual rent. 

 

Shawn sighed, ”Yeah. It is.”

 

“He’s never sent a letter before.”

 

“I know.”

 

Niall went to open it and found that the seal had already been broken. 

 

“You opened it?”

 

“I was curious.”

 

“What's it say?”

 

Shawn tore his gaze from Niall’s eyes as they misted over. His voice was gruff when he said, “I think you should read it.”

 

Niall’s heart sank for more than one reason. Shawn was obviously upset and that always tore Niall’s insides to pieces. His more than mates feelings for Shawn never left him, even after knowing him for nine years. The other reason his heart was at his feet was because he knew what the letter from Matty said. He hadn’t read it yet, but he knew. Matty had threatened them enough to know why he would be sending a letter now.

 

Niall’s shaky fingers pulled a thick, single paper out of the envelope. He ran his eyes over the words typed there and with damp hands and shallow breaths, he let his first tear fall. They were being evicted. After struggling to make it through a failing economy for two of the eight years they’ve had their shop, it was coming to a close. They were going to have to call it quits. Have a blowout sale, sell their folding tables and clothing racks, find someone who needs two empty and outdated cash registers. Niall thought all this through and he closed his eyes. He wanted to think it was a dream but he knew it wasn’t.

 

A dip in the cushion to his right notified him that Shawn had joined Niall in his pity party. Shawn’s warm hand fell onto Niall’s back and began rubbing soothing circles up and down the curved plane. He was the only person that knew how Niall felt, and the only person that could make Niall feel better no matter what. 

 

Niall heaved a shaky breath, mumbled, “So this is it”

 

After a few seconds, Shawn replied with just as shaky of a voice, “It seems that way, yeah.”

 

Niall leaned back and looked up at their ceiling, letting Shawn’s hand fall to his lower back, close to the top of his ass. This only made him more on edge. “All of that time. All of the late nights trying to look for extra change to pay Matty. All of the times we celebrated when we were first starting up and thought we couldn’t ever fail after the brilliant start we had. It amounted to nothing.”

 

Shawn’s tone turned offended, “You can’t say that Niall. It wasn’t a waste.”

 

Niall rolled his head over on the cushion to look at Shawn, both men looking at eachother with tear streaked cheeks and red eyes. “How wasn’t it when it's all ending. We tried Shawn and it didn’t work. All of our wishful thinking and childish hope was nieve. We should have known it would end this way.” 

 

“Niall Horan. If you say this was a waste one more time I’m gonna pop you in the mouth.”

 

As long as its with your lips, Niall thinks. 

 

“Tell me why it wasn’t for nothing because I can’t see how it wasn’t.”

 

Shawn’s eyebrows were so drawn down he looked angry.

 

“No, you tell me why you think it was a waste Niall. Because I could never think it was one. Ever..”

 

“Fine then.” Niall rolled his head back up to look at the ceiling again with hurt eyes. “We never got to renovate this place like we wanted to. We didn’t get to bring our kids here to show them what it looked like when you live your dream. We never got around to convincing your favorite company to let us carry their brand- something that you’ve wanted since back in Uni. I didn’t ever get to have that fashion week party that all those stars go to. We never got to carry our own brand, clothing we designed ourselves, or have an in-shop tailor. All this shop has caused me is heartache now. I’m sure that after we close down the place and hand the keys back to Matty that you won’t even want to talk to me anymore. You’ll only think about how I failed you as a business partner and as a friend, by letting your dream die in my hands. I’m gonna be all alone because you won't be able to stand to look at me and when you get married to some girl and are madly in love with her, I’m still going to be alone. You’re all I have and you’re gonna leave me.”

 

Niall didn’t mean for all of that to come out. His shallow breaths had turned into sobs and the tears leisurely rolling down his face had become a rapidly flowing river. Shawn probably didn’t even understand the last half of his speech because Niall was too broken to be understood. The shop and Shawn were all he had. And now he was losing both in one afternoon. 

 

It's quiet in their office for what feels like days. Niall can't take his eyes from the ceiling to see the pitying look that he knows will be on Shawn’s face. Eventually, he feels Shawn’s hand move from behind his back, feels him get up from their couch, hears the door open, hears Shawn’s return, and feels the placement of a box on his lap. He looks down and sees a box of kleenex.

 

“You’ve had snot on your face for the last half hour, it's getting pretty tough to stomach.”

 

Shawn’s words were spoken in a sad, but not uncomfortable, mad, or even pitying tone. Niall’s curiosity got the better of him after he cleaned his face with his gift of kleenex. He turned to look at Shawn and what he found was surprising. Shawn’s expression was curious, yet his eyes were sad. 

 

“Niall I think I need to tell you something.”

 

Well shit, Niall thought. Here comes the moment where Shawn tells him that Niall’s right and that they will part ways after the closing of H&M, that it will be best for them to never see each other again, that Shawn’s disappointment in Niall is too much to continue being his mate. 

 

Shawn stares at Niall’s blue eyes, “I love you. I’ve been in love with you since we were twenty. You’ve been my best mate for almost ten years and I don’t know how to live without your stupidly contagious laugh, or your horrifically tidy habits. I couldn’t ever stop talking to you and in no way am I disappointed in you. I’ll always be in awe of your people skills, the way you know how to handle an awkward situation, your sense of responsibility, and your knowledge about how to run the money side of a business. You feel like the shop closing is your fault, because you mostly handled the money, but it isn’t. Look outside at all the other closed shops. It’s not just us that have been hit with hard times. It’s the whole strip. I’m not gonna give up our friendship or our good memories just because the universe has given us a shitty situation.”

 

Niall blanked out after Shawn’s first sentence.

 

“Will you repeat that? I don’t think I heard you right.”

 

“What, the whole thing? Damn It Niall, I don’t remember what all I said. I thought you were listening.”

 

“No, just the first part.”

 

“And what was that?”

 

Niall gulped, “You love me?”

 

“Oh.” Shawn paused. He didn’t realize he’d let that slip. “Yeah….. I do. Quite a lot”

 

“Fucking hell. I love you too. Why didn’t you say something sooner?”

 

“Wait. You love me too?”

 

“Yeah, you twat. I’m in love with you and have been since Uni.”

 

“Fuck…”

 

Niall started giggling and pulled an also laughing Shawn into a tight hug. It was slightly uncomfortable because of their positioning on the couch. Unsurprisingly, an hour later Niall had crawled into Shawn’s lap as they finally kissed and their hands explored each others bodies. On such a sad day, it's odd that they were both elated. While they held each other they knew that one of their dreams was coming to a pause, not an end, but the other had only started.

**Author's Note:**

> If you've gotten here, thank you from the bottom of my heart. You don't even have to like it- just thank you for giving it a chance. If you want to, I'm on Tumblr @nickelemma. Also, this is all Amanda's and Shay's fault.


End file.
